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Dressember is approaching quickly! For the entire month of December I’ll be wearing a dress every day and posting a picture to my Instagram in order to raise awareness about human trafficking, and to raise money to help combat modern day slavery.

While working to help eradicate slavery, I also want to support fair trade clothing companies, rather than pour more money into companies who exploit their workers (sadly, this includes most of our favorite brands. For more info, see here). Instead, I’ve rounded up ten beautiful dresses that I would love to wear during Dressember, all manufactured by ethical clothing companies.

I am a sucker for stripes. They are so versatile during Dressember–I pair them with jean jackets, floral scarves, even plaid. I’m definitely going to purchase this adorable long sleeved dress from Albion for $78. I have two pairs of super cute leggings and a swimsuit from Albion, a fair trade company that produces some of the most Instagram-worthy pieces I’ve seen. If you’re in Salt Lake you can visit their store in person (lucky you!).

Yellow is my color. I love a good mustard yellow sweater or dress, and this one, also by Albion for $68, is gorgeous. It looks so cozy for fall and winter.

Bead and Reel carry so many items on my splurge wish list. They are a great source for ethical and female-owned companies. This beautiful wrap dress by Symbology is such a statement piece. It’s an investment at $168, but I imagine that the forgiving cut would allow you to wear this dress through maternity and nursing.

I’m planning on purchasing this simple but elegant olive dress at the Dressember party this week. It is manufactured in a fair trade factory in Nepal, and it was designed specifically for us “Dressemberists” by Brit Moore Gilmore of The Giving Keys. This dress is $60.

Everlane is a great resource for ethical, work appropriate clothing. All of their designs are sleek, modern and simple. I love the stripes on this crisp dress for $75, and they have plenty of other dresses I’m eyeing!

This burgundy shade is my favorite for winter, so I’ve been checking out this casual t-shirt dress from Krochet Kids. At $54 it’s the most affordable dress on my list, and I’m already picturing it with black leggings, a jean jacket, and brown boots.

I love everything about this yellow plaid shift dress from Mata Traders. I literally want to style it exactly like the model and then go play in a field! This one is $89.

Another option from Mata Traders is this blue ikat shift dress. This dress is so timeless and would be perfect for teaching. It is $98 and manufactured at a fair trade women’s cooperative in India.

This sleek black dress is such a staple piece in an ethical wardrobe. It’s $115 from People Tree, an amazing company out of the UK. I ordered a dress from them last year and I had to talk with my credit card company to approve the purchase since it was outside of the United States. It shipped surprisingly quickly, and I’m actually wearing the dress I purchased right now as I type!

I can never have enough black dresses, and I particularly love dresses that are slim on top and then float away at the waist. The neckline on this swing dress from Elegantees is so flattering and feminine. I recently purchased a different dress from Elegantees and tried two different sizes before ultimately returning it since it did not quite fit my body type. Their customer service is fantastic, and shipping was free both ways. I’m going to order this one for $78 to replace my first purchase since I still want to support the company, and I know that my purchase directly supports women in Nepal who have been rescued from human trafficking.

I like to remind my readers that rather than focusing solely on finding good deals, my aim is to find quality, beautiful pieces by companies that respect both their employees and the planet. I buy much less clothing than I used to, but I often pay more per item than I was accustomed to paying before I started purchasing fair trade clothing. The transition takes some getting used to, but know that there is a reason that these dresses cost more than the cheap, fast-fashion dresses at the mall.

I hope that you’ll join me in doing Dressember this year, and that you’ll consider wearing a fair trade dress. Please tag me on Instagram if you end up rocking any of these dresses! Happy Dressember to you!

This year my resolution was to only purchase clothing that is fair trade or made in the United States. After participating in Dressember and watching the documentary The True Cost, I felt convicted about how my frivolous fashion purchases affect the environment, the global economy, the lives of individual workers, and even my own happiness. Ten months into this journey, I have learned so much more about ethical fashion, and I’ve found several fair trade brands that make beautiful clothing while also fulfilling a mission to improve the lives of women.

One of these companies is Elegantees. They employ women in Nepal, and actively participate in the effort to rescue sex trafficking victims on the Nepal-India border. They also make ethical and fashionable clothes. I love purchasing from them because I know that not only am I investing in a well made, lovely piece of clothing, but my money is helping to keep a woman employed in a dignified job.

When I saw this top I knew I had to buy it–it’s called the Megan. I love the asymmetrical hem with a longer cut in the back. It’s perfect for my every day teaching style, or as an easy, casual shirt for the weekend. It’s comfortable and fits perfectly (I ordered a medium). I even made an error when entering my shipping information and Elegantees worked quickly and kindly with me to rectify my mistake and get my order shipped to me within a few days.

Additionally, Elegantees is working with Dressember again this year to create, not one, but FIVE styles of Dressember dresses. I’ve already ordered the Penny dress to add to my Dressember collection. I’ve also got my eye on the Courtney dress because apparently I can’t get enough black, hi-low pieces!

The dresses and shirts I’ve purchased from Elegantees cost a little bit more than I was used to spending on clothing. In the past I did a lot of my shopping at places like Target and TJ Maxx. Those places have some really cute outfits at great prices, but these days I am much more selective about how much I buy, and who I am supporting with my money. I could make a huge corporation even richer, or I could literally help keep a woman out of a sweatshop with my purchase. Whenever possible, I choose the latter.

Since I have been buying simpler, more classic pieces that I can wear for years to come, it’s also been fun to add some jewelry to my collection. I love the unexpected yarn detail on this Joy Necklace from Noonday Collection. Noonday is another Dressember partner that offers gorgeous fair trade jewelry, handmade by artisans all over the world. You can search their website for a Noonday Ambassador in your area. I’ve always placed orders online, but ambassadors also host trunk shows where you can check out their jewelry in person.

As I continue on my journey toward becoming an ethical consumer, I want to share what I learn with you. For now, I will only be providing links to items that are fair trade, made in the United States, or ethically produced in some way. I still own clothes that I bought before I made this shift in my purchasing habits, and I see no reason to throw them out and simply create more waste. Ideally, I’d like to transition to a fully fair trade wardrobe, but that will take time. It will also take creativity, and I welcome the challenge.

Whew! 31 days of dresses and selfies is complete! It was not easy, but I’m proud of myself and all the other “dressemberists” for completing our goal. The days isn’t quite over, but so far we’ve raised $404,000 for the International Justice Mission to use to rescue girls from sex trafficking and to prosecute brothels and pimps. It’s an amazing cause and I love that so many women have come together to simply wear a dress and share photos to raise awareness for the campaign. We are powerful, beautiful, stylish and effective. We are world-changers! Participating in Dressember is always a great way to end the year focused on global issues and social justice. In case you catch this in time to participate, the website to donate is http://www.dressemberfoundation.org/toocoolforschool

Dressember is also a fun fashion challenge, so here are all of the dresses I wore this month. I wore about 20 different dresses, but you could definitely re-wear the same dresses more often than I did. After participating last year I made a conscious effort to stock up on a few affordable dresses throughout the year because December is a terrible time to buy dresses for some reason. They are all sparkly and New Year’s Eve-y and nothing that I would wear on a regular basis. I buy almost all my clothes from Target, Forever 21, Old Navy and Marshalls (I should really branch out), so every outfit in this post is affordable if not downright cheap. Scarves, boots, sweaters and tights really complete the looks and make them more interesting. Scroll through and hopefully you will be inspired to join me in Dressember next year!

During the month of December I participated in a fundraising/ awareness event to help end modern day slavery. Similar to events like Movember, to “do” Dressmeber, you wear a dress every day for the month of December. That’s 31 days in a row! You post photos of your outfits to Instagram or Facebook or wherever you like to post photos, and ask people to sponsor you in order to raise money to end modern day slavery. The creator of Dressember (Blythe Hill) partnered with the International Justice Mission, and they received 100% of the money donated in order to support the work they do to combat human trafficking. Here is what I loved about this experience:

#1–The physical act of participating–You definitely start to feel narcissistic after taking and posting daily selfies, but I really liked the physical effort of finding an appropriate dress for every day, and even finding the time to take a picture. I find that putting physical action into less tangible concepts is very helpful for me (things like actually kneeling down to pray, or making a collage of things that I want to accomplish). Every morning when I put on a dress, I thought about girls who don’t have closets full of clothes like I do, and who don’t have simple freedoms like choosing what to wear. Just looking down at my outfit every day reminded me to pray for women who are enslaved, and to be grateful for everything I have.

#2–The community of women on Instagram–I posted all my pictures on Instagram and made sure to hashtag #dressember2013. It was so much fun to click on the hashtag and explore pictures from other women who have the same passion for social justice that I do. I started following some of them, and a few followed me. We left each other messages of encouragement and got fresh inspiration for how to spice up the same old dress over and over again.

#3–Wearing a dress felt powerful–Often when I wear a dress I feel feminine, and a just a bit vulnerable. I can’t say that I have ever felt particularly powerful while wearing a dress before. But during Dressember, as I saw the thousands of dollars pouring in as a result of our fashion choices, I absolutely felt powerful. When I saw that the International Justice Mission had shut down a brothel, I felt like my dress had something to do with that. I’ll admit that some days it was a bit of a chore to put together yet another outfit with a dress, but when I remembered how much good it was doing, I just felt like a superhero!

#4–The fashion challenge aspect–I love the look of a dress with tights and boots, but when it comes down to it I usually just wear jeans and a sweater. It was actually a lot of fun to put together outfits using the dresses that I had, plus try to stay warm, and be work-appropriate. There were a few days at work when we had to wear college sweatshirts or school colors, so that added a little extra challenge. It is almost impossible to look sloppy when wearing a dress, so it was good for me to be forced to dress up every day. I am going to try and incorporate more dresses into my wardrobe, and remember that mixing and matching can stretch my wardrobe more than I think. I only wore about 1/5 of the items in my closet, and I hardly even missed the other items!

#5–The money–We raised over $165,000! That’s incredible! Next year I am going to set a goal for myself to personally raise a lot more money, and now that I know how everything works, I can spread the word a little more effectively. When next December rolls around, I highly encourage you to participate! Here are all the Dressember outfits I wore, in case you need some inspiration: